784 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[ Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure 
attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Pat questions on a separate piece of paper.! 
Mixing Varieties of Fruit, 
You told H. C. T. of Saratoga the fact 
that the Bubach is not a self-fertilizer. I 
planted Bubach and two other varieties 
of imperfect varieties and tried for two 
years with same success as H. C. T. I did 
not know enough to detect the cause until 
one of my neighbors told me; then I took 
out evefy third row and set in the old 
Wilson variety, and grew a fine crop. Since 
then I have no trouble to pick out the per¬ 
fect or imperfect blossoms. I don’t think 
any berry will bear as well set alone; even 
the Dunlap will bear better and the late 
blossoms will produce fruit if a pollenizer 
is set with it. The same with apples; 
never set more than four rows of one va¬ 
riety, then two of another; they will bear 
more apples and better apples. I know it 
is so after 40 years growing apples and 
berries; plums and pears the same. Mix 
your varieties. Try to get the best varie¬ 
ties, and such as are adapted to your lo¬ 
cality ; visit your experiment station and 
attend the horticultural meetings, and ask 
lots of questions and avoid such mistakes. 
That is how I learned to do better. 
Boughten wit is the best if not too dear. 
We are all apt to get a dose and profit by 
it. All horticulturists are willing and anx¬ 
ious to tell their neighbors all they know. 
Everyone who sells strawberry plants should 
inform the purchaser of the necessity of 
planting pollenizers so as to avoid 'new 
beginners making the mistake. I never 
forgot the man who sold me the plants, 
or bought any more from him. 
Illinois. S. G. SOVERHILL. 
R. N.-Y.—There are two sides to this. A 
man once came to see our berries and great¬ 
ly admired President. It is an imperfect 
variety, but had been fertilized by Marshall, 
and the. berries were like red apples. This 
man wanted plants. We tried to tell him 
that the variety would fail if planted alone, 
but his reply was, “Do you expect me to 
believe such rot? You are afraid I will get 
your trade!” So we let him have the 
plants and he set them alone. There was 
no berry larger than a button. That man 
was a sport. He came back cheerfully and 
said, “You were right. It is on me. Take 
my order for more plants and mix them 
as they need!” 
The Cost of Harvesting Hay. 
I cut over 90 acres of flat land in Mon- 
x'oe county to get 40 tons of good hay re¬ 
cently, and record the cost for future ref¬ 
erence. The work began June 26, 1911, 
with four men, three horses, a mower, 
wagon and rack and horse rake. The strip 
of land was 80 x-ods wide, 200 rods long; 
all but 10 acres of this piece was in hay. 
The barn was at west end of the strip and 
had hay foi-k in good order put in barn 
about 30 years ago. This hay went less 
than one-half ton per acre, and while the 
quality was fine and good the quantity was 
shortened by lack of rain in April, May and 
June. The hay was drawn to barn thi-ough 
lane in center of the strip and some of the 
hay was drawn 190 i-ods from the east end 
of the strip, while some of the hay was in 
fields near the barn. The work was done 
in 14 days at a cost of $3 per ton. The 
men cooked for themselves and supplied 
their own board and lived in small house on 
the farm, the owner going to the farm once 
each week. One of the men had $4 each 
day for his work and furnished mower, 
horses, wagon and all implements. The 
other three men had $2 each day. The 
land was vei'.v fiat and level and stone§ 
well picked off, so the mower cut over the 
piece without a bi-eakdown. The weather 
was fine with no rain, but four days were 
very hot with thermometer at times over 
100 degrees in the shade. I do not quite 
see how hay can be harvested for $1 per 
ton, but presume these men could have 
been hurried some if owner had been with 
them at work. We do not claim this recoi'd 
of work the best but leave the getting of 
better x'esults to better farmers who can 
get more work for less money. c. B. 
It. N.-Y.—Suppose that hay had run one 
ton or more per ac*e. It would have cost 
no more to cut it or rake it and compai-a- 
tively little more to handle it, while the cost 
per ton would have been cut down. 
Hoeing Potatoes While Wet. 
A neighbor had a patch of potatoes in 
his garden of the Early Ohio variety. He 
commenced hoeing them early in the morn¬ 
ing when the vines were wet with dew (we 
didn’t have rain enough here in June to 
wet potato vines), but was called to his 
office befox-e he completed the job. Those 
that were hoed dried out entirely, while 
those that were not hoed lived. Will it 
kill or injure potato vines to hoe them 
when the gi'ound is very dry and the vines 
wet with dew? I know that it is not ad¬ 
visable to hoe beans when they are wet 
with dew or rain, but I never knew that it 
would kill or injure potatoes to hoe them 
in that condition. N. B. m. 
Itonceverte, W. Va. 
There is a prevalent opinion that no 
plants should be cultivated when wet with 
dew or rain. The only crop that I have 
found to resent handling seriously when wet 
is celery. The celery plants will certainly 
be damaged and the leaves turn yellow and 
rusty if handled when wet. I have never 
hesitated to cultivate potatoes when wet 
with dew, and have never seen any damage 
done from so doing. I think that the dam¬ 
age referred to was probably due more to 
damage to the roots by too deep hoeing. All 
kinds of rust or blight to foliage are the 
result of disease germs which flourish under 
certain conditions, and in some plants it 
July 29, 
would seem that they are spread more read¬ 
ily by handling when -wet. With no disease 
present I cannot see that the shaking off of 
dew or x'ain could have a bad effect on the 
leaves of any plant. .If the operator had 
simply gone through and stirred the dust 
blanket with a rake I do not believe that 
there would have been any damage done. 
Very many inexperienced gardenei-s think 
that in hoeing it is necessary to dig the 
soil deeply. I have a little implement with 
five teeth, like a spring-tooth harrow with a 
rake handle. I go through ail my vegetables 
with this, using it as I would a x'ake, and 
it is so efficient and easy to use that I 
have not had my wheel hand cultivator out 
of the barn this season. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
That Florida Strawberry Story. 
On page 644 John Spiers, under the head¬ 
ing “A Florida Strawberry Stox-y,” says, 
“We have a strawberry bed * * 116 feet 
by five feet, plants in hills 18 inches apart, 
a little over 2,000 plants; to be exact, 2,380 
plants.” What puzzles me is how Mr. 
Spiel's gets “2,380 plants” on a piece of 
ground “116 feet by five feet.” I have ex¬ 
ceeded this yield, but plant in larger pieces 
of ground than he names, here in Michi¬ 
gan, on the hill system ; the price he gets 
per quart is nearly what we get per crate, 
but that cuts no figui'e, for according to 
the late Peter Henderson, the New Y’ork 
hothouse gaidener sometimes get as high 
as $6 per quart for Winter strawberries, 
so outside of the plants he can get on an 
area of “116 feet by five feet” the story 
could be staged anywhere. 
Michigan. d. h. cristophel. 
In giving dimensions of strawberry bed 
you omitted the figure 4; the space was 
116 by 45 feet. When we have done pick¬ 
ing berries you can hand out the full story. 
June 16 we left off picking (still have blos¬ 
soms and berries), picked 911% quarts. If 
I had a record of berries taken and damaged 
by birds and bugs I am sure we could 
count 920 quarts, maybe more. Again, every 
quart was filled above level, many quarts 
handed out piled up with berries as many 
as could be packed on, and visitors got 
many handfuls. I am confident if every 
quart had been filled as quarts ai - e are re¬ 
tailed we would have had 1,000 quarts. Al¬ 
though I gave the prices we do not crow 
oyer prices; it’s the yield from the small 
piece of Florida sand. llow many expert 
strawberry growers can beat it? 
Florida. john spiers. 
R. N.-Y.—As we figure it, Mr. Spiers had 
5,220 square feet, or about 12 per cent of 
an acre. 
Some Strawberry Questions. 
“I had to set in an unfertilized (stable 
manure) ground. What can I do outside 
of regular hoeing and cultivating to help 
them along now ?” 
You can use fertilizer along the rows or 
around the plants. One of the ready-made 
fruit and vine mixtures will answer, or the 
following: One part nitrate of soda, three 
parts fine ground bone, one part sulphate 
of potash. Use at the rate of 600 pounds 
per acre. 
“Is it worth while to keep up an old 
bed, one year’s fruiting? Could one work 
it on hill system, with old plants or run¬ 
ners? If you matted rows, would you keep 
runners, layer them and turn under old 
plants, or better, transplant in August when 
wet?” 
It will depend on how weedy the bed is. 
If full of grass it is doubtful if cleaning up 
will pay. \ T ou can take a small, sharp 
plow and plow out a narrow strip of plants 
at the center of the row. Cultivate the 
plowed part smooth and then with a sharp 
hoe cut out the plants on the strip so as 
to leave them in hills. Let a few plants 
root. Cut others off. 
“I want a sti'awberry that will fruit 
early and last anyhow with fair or good 
yield until July 15-31. What variety can 
I get? I also want to plant 1,000 plants 
this Fall and 1,000 in Spring, good varie¬ 
ties, two or three kinds. Would you say 
Senator Dunlap, Highland and Glen Mary 
or perhaps Fendall?” 
You cannot hope for any such variety. 
We have had had Marshall give fruit for 21 
days, but the last were quite poor. This is 
asking too much for any vai-iety. You 
should have at least five kinds—-running 
from Michel’s Early to Gandy to cover any 
such space. 
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL PRICES. 
I will endeavor to tell you prices of some 
fruits and vegetables on the Cleveland, 
Ohio, markets. 
Wholesale Retail 
Cherries .2.00 2.75 bus. 
Raspberries, R.. 3.50 4.00 bus. 
Raspberries, Bl.. 2.50 3.50 bus. 
Blackberries . .. 2.50 3.50 bus. 
Currants . 2.25 3.00 bus. 
G. II. Cukes.... 40c 60c doz. 
G. H. Tomatoes 8c 10c lb. 
Wax beans. 50c 75c bus. 
Beets .bunches 15c doz. 
Carrots .12%c 15c doz. 
Lettuce leaf.. 15 lb. box 50c 1.00 
Lettuce head. . 24 hd box 35c 60c 
Radishes ...10c doz. bunches 
10c 15c qt. 
14c 16c qt. 
10c 15c qt. 
10c 15c qt. 
10c qt. 
5c 6c ea. 
10c 15c lb. 
5c qt. 
2c 3c bunch 
2c 3c bunch 
7c 10c lb. 
3c 7c ea. 
2c 3c bunch 
The market changes on these articles 
from day to day especialy now during hot 
and dry weather. h. h. r. 
Cleveland, O. 
I do not think the difference is so great 
here, as the large street market which is 
held here twice a week no doubt tends to 
keep prices lower. These are the prices of 
produce selling now: 
Wholesale. Retail. 
Potatoes, barrel, $4.00.bushel, $2.00 
Beets, dozen, 35 cents.bunch, .05 
Spinach, bushel, 40 cents.peck, .20 
Radish, dozen bunches, 20 cents— 
, dozen bunches, .30 
Tomatoes, pound, 6 cents.pound, .10 
Onions, bushel, $1.00.peck 40 
Celery, dozen, 30 cents.stalky !o5 
Head lettuce, dozen, 35 cents..head, .05 
Berries, red, 10 cents. 14 
Berries, black, 8 cents. ,V2 
String beans, bushel, 60 cents... peck, ‘.25 
Peas, bushel, $1.25.peck, .60 
This is about all that is moving now. 
Severe drought here. ' s. j. c. 
Dunkirk, N. Y. 
Is Asparagus Poisonous? 
I have lately heard that asparagus lias 
a poison, and that when eaten too freely 
it affects the kidneys and di-ies up the 
blood. I am very fond of this vegetable, 
and use a bunch on my table daily during 
the season, and have found the asparagus 
soup good for indigestion. j. g. 
New York. 
Keep right on using aspaiagus all you 
can. The U. S. Dispensatory states : 
“There is at present no sufficient reason 
for believing that asparagus is of value in 
practical medicine, nc 1 - is it more than con¬ 
jecture that it has an effect upon the heart 
or is actively diuretic as has been alleged.” 
It is not likely that any of our vegetables 
have any particular medicinal effect, though 
a concentrated extract from them might be 
used as medicine. Vegetables are “healthy” 
food and ought to be used freely. 
“For the Land’s Sake, use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it.”— Adv. 
Clod Crusher and Roller Leads them All. Send for circulars. 
THE PETERSON MFG. CO..'135 RIVER ST., KENT, OHIO 
WANTFfl- Mariied man with sma11 family to 
TV nil I LU take charge of modern poultry plant. 
Good location, and everything first-class. Refer¬ 
ences l-equired. Address “X. Y. Z.,” Care R. N.-Y. 
2000 Acres In Nurseries -:, 1 0 Valuable Farms For Sale, 
\ — . _ Harrison s Nurseries, Berlin, Md. 
C ABKAPE PLANTS of nil kinds, $1 per 1000; Tomato mid Sweet 
Potato Plants, $1.60 per 1000; Cauliflower and Peppers,$2.50 
per 1000. Plants ready for field. J. C. Schmidt, Bristol, Pa. 
FAR QAI F~ C0W H0RN TURM,P > Z5c lh Vetch, 
rUn OnLL Crimson Clover and Rape at 
Market. SIEGEL THE SEEDMAN, Erie, Pa. 
APPI F TRFF^ -AU kinds Trees and Plants 
rtt HUik« 'Prices reasonable. Salesmen 
Wanted. Mitchell’s Nursery, .Beverly. Ohio 
ALFALFA SOIL FOR INOCULATION 
. , . Send for Prices and Circular . . . 
E. T. GILL, Haddon Farms, Haddonfield, N. J. 
INOCULATED ALFALFA SOIL 
75 cents per hundred, $10.00 per ton. F. O. B. Ash- 
ville, Pa. Send for FREE booklet " How to Grow 
Alfalfa.” Dr. H. SOMERVILLE, Chest Springs, 
Cambria County, Pa. 
FRUIT TREES 
We are ready to take orders for Fall Delivery 
for BLACK’S QUALITY TREES. 
. . . Send for Booklet . . . 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO.. HIGHTSTOWN, N. J. 
ALFALFA 
All Northern grown, guaranteed to be 99 percent 
pure and free from dodder. Write for free sample 
on which we invite you to get Government tests. 
This seed should produce hay at $60 per acrej an¬ 
nually. Free Instructions on growing. 
GRAIN AND GRASS SEED 
Northern grown and of .strongest vitality. We 
handle export grade only and can furnish grass 
mixture suitable for any soils. Write for catalog. 
WING SEED CO., Box 223 Mechanicsburg, O. 
(CONSULTING SPECIALIST in soil improve- 
v> * ment, crop growing, dairy husbandry and gene¬ 
ral farm management. L. W. LIGHTY, East Berlin, Pa. 
C OLLIE PUPS ! Sire, a son of ”Ch. Squire of Tyt- 
ton.” Males, $7; females, open or spayed, $5. 
Ciaxvernook Fxxuit Farm, Chanibei-sburg, Pa. 
Spring dill Yorkshires-r'J." w f »"T s i,t1 
sows for sale. Quality and prices riglit. CHAS. 
H. EMKNS, Spring Hill Farm, Binghamton, N. Y. 
IRfl FarmQ FOR SA,jE CHEAP, in fertile 
IUU I □ I IIIO Delaware Valley. New catalogue 
and map free. Horace G. Rkei>eu, Newtown, Pa. 
A YOUNG MAN (23) WANTS POSITION ON POTLTRY FARM. 
Has six years business experience. Understands 
bookkeeping; responsible references. 
"M. care The RukaIj New-Yorker. 
FINE 
TRUCKFARM 
/^VWING to business interests which 
compel a residence in another State, 
I offer for sale my high-class truck and 
dairy farm, including all buildings, 
cattle, machinery, farming implements, 
silo equipment, etc., complete. Prop¬ 
erty 130 acres excellent land located on 
fine water-front, with private landing in 
heart of Norfolk County trucking and 
farming district. Mild and delightful 
climate year round. Close proximity to 
130,000 population. 
• Price $15,000—Terms easy. 
-ADDRESS- 
OWNER, P. 0. Bex 243, Portsmouth, Va. 
CRIMSON GLOVER 
The great soil improver. Valuable also for 
early green food, grazing and hay crops. 
Special circular free; also sample and price 
of seed on request. 
HENRY A. DREER 
714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia 
A PROTECTOR OF ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 
D R* HA.RVEY W. WILEY, Chief Chemist of the United States Department of Agriculture, is 
probably best known to the general public through his splendid service to the Nation in securing the 
passage of the Pure Food Law and in fighting for its enforcement. However, the farmers of the 
country ought to know that Dr. Wiley has been working for them in other important ways. 
He has secured the passage of a law for the inspection and 
analysis of insecticides, thus preventing the adulteration of 
these materials that have come to be indispensable to successful 
farming. 
For years he has been Secretary of the Association of Official 
Agricultural Experiment Station Chemists and has been at all 
times the life and soul of this organization. He has introduced 
and secured the adoption of the best methods for analyzing 
soils, fertilizers and all kinds of agricultural products. 
Especially valuable has been Dr. Wiley’s work in prevent¬ 
ing the sale of inferior, adulterated or misbranded fertilizers. 
The Coe-Mortimer Company is in thorough sympathy with 
his efforts to have the fertilizer business conducted honestly in 
every detail. 
On July 15th The Coe-Mortimer Company sent the following telegram to President Taft: 
TO THE PRESIDENT, White House, Washington, D. C. 
IVe sincerely hope that your sense of justice and your knowledge of Dr, Harvey W. 
Wiley's great service to the American people will lead to his retention in his present office 
that he fills so efficiently and incorruptibly. r##£ COE-MORTIMER COMPANY 
E. Frank Coe Fertilizers and Peruvian Brands are manufactured with strict regard for high quality and honesty in composition 
and in branding. I he same regard for high quality is observed in connection with Genuine Thomas Phosphate Powder (Key- 
Tree Brand) and all agricultural chemicals sold by The Coe-Mortimer Company, and this company takes this opportunity to 
endorse the efforts of Dr. Wiley and other honest and fearless men who are striving to enforce proper inspection and supervision. 
THE COE-MORTIMER COMPANY VwToTZT.T 
